Tuesday, 18 September 2018

On the 9th September, one of our volunteers completed a half marathon on the behalf of Space. Gary managed to finish the half marathon and so far, has raised Space Youth Project £179! A massive well done and thank you to Gary!

Wednesday, 8 August 2018

Space Youth Project had a lovely picnic with the office team in Poole Park on Monday. The picnic was Space's way to thank everyone who helps out in the office for all their hard work. Sadly, not everyone could make it but thank you so much for everything you do for Space!

Wednesday, 18 July 2018

Bournemouth's LGBT+ community took over the city centre last weekend to celebrate Bourne Free with thousands of visitors and it was a party that Space couldn't have missed. Young people and volunteers met up in the early morning to get our float parade-ready and put up our stall in the Lower Gardens. When everything was glittered and all balloons were blown up, we made our way to the Overcliff Drive where we met the rest of the parade. It was amazing to march through Bournemouth to show everyone what a lovely bunch Space Youth Project is and it was great to see how the public supported us with their cheers!

Having a stall was a wonderful opportunity to inform more people about Space. Offering goodies to the public was a great chance to engage them as well as raising money to support our project.
A big thank you to all the helping hand we had on deck to make this day such a success! We can't wait to see you all there next year!

Wednesday, 9 May 2018

A glittery hello to everyone! My name is Sophie and I will be with Space for the next three months to do an Erasmus+ internship. I flew over from Germany, where I'm currently about to finish my BA of Cultural Anthropology and Education. In Hamburg, where I studied, I've been working with young LGBT people for 8 months before getting here.

After arriving last week, I got the chance to attend my first youth group in Poole Thursday night. I was very curious to meet the young people and to see the setup of a group. Working in groups is what I'm most exited to spend my time on besides helping out with event planing in the office. Charming Ronnie helped me out to do the register, which was an excellent way for me to introduce myself and get to know the group. I'll try to remember all the names, but please don't mind me asking for it again over the next weeks.

During circle time the new volunteers faced interrogation by the young members of Space. Clara and Holly were there to get interviewed with me, which made it a bit less scary. I was quite nervous about the questions that might be asked, but we didn't receive any that were too personal or intimidating. I feel like everyone was too polite or shy to ask about more intimate things, but I'm sure we'll get to know each other better over the next couple of months.

Last night I went to Bournemouth group, which was quite different from Poole, especially due to the location in a youth centre. I worked on a little social media project for IDAHOBT day, the International Day Against Homophobia Biphobia and Transphobia. Follow our Instagram account @spaceyouthproject to see the results of it on the 17th May. Again this was a lovely way to introduce myself to the young people and start a conversation about their experience as a young LGBT+ in Dorset.

I really enjoyed myself in both groups and I can't wait to attend more. I wanted to talk to so many people and play a round of Pool or two, but time ran out way too quickly. Which means I definitely will have to be back!

Friday, 6 April 2018

Being present for Space’s transgender training presentation
was amazing and it felt great to have a positive impact on other’s lives
through the counsellors we spoke in front of. Sarah and Eli were the main
speakers for this talk as I did the slides and watched, joining for the Q&A
at the end. We (Eli and I) were able to talk about our own experiences openly
so that they could be used to prevent others being treated the way we were,
without fear of anyone interrupting or disagreeing. All the counsellors we
spoke to were incredibly respectful and asked important questions, showing that
they cared about our cause.

Everyone also left a feedback form at the end of the
presentation, and it was amazing and encouraging to hear all the positive
feedback we received, which included, “A lot of food for thought and hugely
helpful to gain insight in to the area of the population which can be overlooked
or dismissed. Thank you so much,” and, “I empathised with Eli’s difficulties
and struggles, especially childhood and I would like to thank Sarah, Eli and
Ellie for sharing their personal stories and for showing me courage!”

Being a witness to this presentation has encouraged me to
write up my own story, so that I may help others in future training sessions
and deliver an impactful message the same way Eli and Sarah did.

Wednesday, 28 February 2018

We had a lovely Bournemouth group last night celebrating a young person's birthday and played group games. We also put on AIR radio, an all inclusive radio that one of our volunteers presents on. We sat around listening as she gave Space a shout out!

We hope everyone's wrapping up warm! And remember if you see a rough sleeper around in this area use the Street Link service, 0300 500 0914, to notify the council about a rough sleeper anywhere in the country. If you're in Bournemouth you can notify the council Rough Sleeper Team by email on b&pstreetoutreach@mungos.org or by calling 01202 315962. This is a 24 hour answer phone.

Monday, 26 February 2018

Yesterday, on the 25th February, 7 of our young people got together at Number 18 in Poole to help us make a film. We wanted to create a film talking about homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying that will be a valuable resource for our schools anti-HBT project. A project, funded by the Department for Education and the Equalities Office, to tackle the very same bullying we came together to talk about on film.

"I'm surprised how positive this experience has been considering how bad it was at the time. Being around people reminds me of all the support I have." - Ronnie

Talking about these kinds of experiences is never easy, but it was inspiring to see how everyone was so forthcoming about their stories. It was a valuable bonding experience for everyone involved and emotions were running high. George, the director, was definitely finding it emotional during the individual interviews as it was his first time hearing about the reality of LGBT+ people's bullying experiences.

"It's been quite tough. It's nothing I've been around, experienced, or heard about before. It's sad to hear what you guys have been through. Your stories are very powerful." - George

For our young people, being a part of something that can bring about change and prevent what happened to them from happening again is priceless.

"It was a horrible experience but being able to apply it to something like this almost makes me glad to have been through it. Knowing that all our experiences could be the catalyst for a better school environment for LGBT+ people makes me see the experience a different way." - Eli

We admire our young people here at Space so much for being so brave enough to be apart of this project. A massive thank you to them, to George, and to Number 18 for hosting this project.

"I've been blown away by young peoples ability to share their stories and them doing so will make a change." - Sarah

Monday, 5 February 2018

The portraits Space Youth Project commissioned Bournemouth and Poole College to photograph are being put up today! Flirt Cafe in Bournemouth is kindly hosting the portraits for two weeks as well as the private viewing tonight. Space and students involved are working hard to get them up so make sure you visit Flirt to see them in person!

Wednesday, 17 January 2018

Bournemouth and Poole College have a gender neutral toilet right in reception! It's amazing to see how a sign on a door affected our young people and how happy they were to feel accommodated. It would be lovely to see more places following suit!